Water Changes In Large Tanks?

[simonas]

I've just been doing a water change in my tank its 150g 60x30x24

To have a decent impact I'm changing about 30g a week but I cannot store that much water to get rid of chlorine etc. Iused to in other tanks store wtater but can't in this one

will i harm my fish using water that is generally straight from tap. what do other larger tank owners do

the fact there is a large aount of water will that just dilute any chlorine etc coming in?

cheers

 

[kewskills]

i use straight tap water on my changes no water conditioners, I also know alot of other people that do with no ill effects

 

[simonas]

good stuff. I think I am quite lucky with the water here as its about 7.2 and of a decent quality

 

[Cory_Dad]

Normally I would agree but something happened to me about 3 weeks ago where I did a 40% water change on my 60 gallon. Within 1/2 hour I lost 2 zebra danios and within 12 hours 2 juvenile corys. Some of my other fish started acting weird too.

Coincidence, maybe, but I doubt it.

Since then I'm pre-treating my water for 24 hours in 5 gallon pails. Now a 150 gallon is quite a bit bigger so you'd need at least 6 pails. You could also use a new and totally cleaned garbage pail. I know it's a pain in the butt, but, I don't ever want to have to go through this again.

If you at least have 1/2 of the water pre-treated and then pre-treat the next 1/2 and wait 1 hour before using it, it's better than nothing.

Oh, also, I'm using double the amount of dechlor as recommended, just to be safe.

Cheers.

 

[sharpshark]

I hose tap water straight in to my 90 gallon, always have, I put in the whole dose first then fill it up, it saves SOOO much time, I've never lost any fish due to this as far as I can tell.

 

[dthoffsett]

I use a python drain-and-fill system and just add my dechlorinator as I'm filling. Haven't lost any fish due to it in three years, the majority of large tank owners do the same. I also use this same system on my smaller (10 and 29gal) tanks with no problems in those either.

 

[andywg]

As above, I dump some dechlor in and fill straight from the cold tap. You will find that the vast majority of large tank owners do. I can't see CFC leaving 36 5 gallon buckets around and tipping them all in for every water change on his 900 gallon...

 

[dave_m13]

On my 400 litre tank, I empty using hose, just syphon it out, then filling up, bit of a pain, fill bucket half with RO and half tap water, I add de-chlorinator to each bucket. If I wasn't using RO water filling tank with hose would save so much time.

 

[drtim]

I agree, wack in the dechlorinator and fill from the tap. i have a mixer tap so i put a bit of warm in as well, but not sure how necessary that is, especially if not doing massive water changes.
T.

 

[fishyfreak]

I do the same thing, I add the conditioner while I'm adding the tap water. Also, smaller water changes more frequently are much easier on the fish. I have a 180g and I do 25% once a week, I find any larger and the fish start acting a bit sluggish for awhile.

 

[adamgreen240]

i use my fluval fx5 external to pump the water out into the grid in our garden. to refill it, i pull the hose in and fill it up from the hose, i never use decholrinator , never had and ive never had any problems.

 

[T1KARMANN]

I agree, wack in the dechlorinator and fill from the tap. i have a mixer tap so i put a bit of warm in as well, but not sure how necessary that is, especially if not doing massive water changes.
T.

i wouldnt use any mixer tap or hot water from the tap in my tank would you drink it i know for sure i wouldnt drink any hot water from the tap in my house

no need to age the water its a waste of space and time

i dump the water out add a full dose of seachem prime then fill the tank up from the cold tap

the temp drop is good for the fish as it simulates rain fall

 

[CFC]

Again i wouldn't use the hot tap, i've seen the insides of far too many copper water cylinders and boilers when i cut them up for scrap to even think of letting water that has passed through them into my tanks.

Water changes are done by hose, syphon the water out straight to a drain and then fill straight from the garden tap adding water conditioner as it fills. I always use water conditioner as it does more than just remove chlorine, it also binds up harmfull heavy metals which have trace ammounts in tapwater and these metals if left free can build up in the insides of the fish and slowly poison them.

 

[MadMan-JaMeS]

i empty through a hose out the window.

Then i fill an 80 litre plastic dustbin (its only purpose is for my tank) then add dechlorinator then pump the water into my tank !

never use the hot tap because as people say it comes from a tank which could have copper or anything else in it so its a bad idea imo !

Might just hook a hose up from the tap straight into the tank from now on tho as so many people do it with no effects !

 

[lil.guppy]

If I am only taking out an inch or so, I don't put any chemicals in it, but the next water change I do. If its a large amount, then yes I add chemicals.